The present disclosure relates to an image forming apparatus and an image forming method that are capable of forming an image in an electrophotographic manner.
In image forming apparatuses such as a printer capable of forming an image in an electrophotographic manner, the surface of an image carrier such as a photosensitive drum is charged and an electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of the image carrier. For example, this type of image forming apparatus is provided with a charging member for charging the surface of the image carrier by DC voltage applied from a power supply.
By the way, in the image forming apparatus, the DC voltage applied to the charging member might pulsate. For example, in the image forming apparatus, in the case where superimposition voltage obtained by superimposing DC voltage and AC voltage is applied to a development member for developing an electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the image carrier, the DC voltage applied to the charging member interferes with the superimposition voltage and thereby pulsates. If the DC voltage applied to the charging member pulsates, variations occur in the surface potential of the image carrier, whereby density unevenness occurs in an image formed on the surface of the image carrier. In this regard, technology of suppressing pulsation of DC voltage applied to the charging member, by connecting a capacitor connected to the ground, to the charging member, is known.